1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electric connection box such as a junction box used for wire harnesses in an automobile, and more particularly to a construction in which a small integrated fuse (multifuse) is mounted within an electric connection box, and fuses of the small integrated fuse arranged at a small pitch can be connected to an internal circuit of the electric connection box.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional fuse used as an electric protection part, a plurality of loads are connected to one fuse as shown in FIG. 8. For example, a fuse F1 of 7.5 A (ampere) is connected to loads A1 and A2, and a fuse F2 of 10 A is connected to loads A3 and A4. When one fuse is thus connected to the plurality of loads, it is necessary that the size of wires, connected to the fuse, should match the capacity of the fuse. The minimum capacity of the conventionally-used fuses is 5 A, and therefore the cross-sectional area of a conductor of the wire is 0.3 mm.sup.2, and it is not possible to make the wire thinner or narrower. And besides, when the fuse melts, a plurality of loads, connected to this fuse, fail to be energized, thus inviting a problem that the loads can not be protected independently of each other. Furthermore, when the fuse of the minimum capacity of 5 A is used, a connector can not be formed into a small-pitch design, and a 3 mm pitch is a limit, and this is the reason why the electric connection box can not be formed into a compact size.
In view of the above problems, the present Applicant has earlier proposed a small integrated fuse (multifuse) having a number of integrated fuses of not more than 2 A, and wires, connected respectively to the fuses, can be made thinner, and each of the fuses is connected to a respective one of loads so that the loads can be protected independently of each other.
In the above integrated fuse, however, the pitch of the fuses is small, and therefore there has been encountered a problem that bus bars, used as an internal circuit of a conventional electric connection box, can not be connected to the fuses arranged at such a small pitch. When wires and press-connecting terminals, connected respectively to these wires, are used as an internal circuit, the press-connecting terminals can not be connected to the respective wires at a small pitch, which invites a problem that the wires can not be connected to the small integrated fuse.